Being ginger is not a bad thing and is of course, like being black (or as we are told gay) something you are born with!

Ginger kids are taunted and do suffer as a consequence, my two children are ginger and I can tell you from first hand experience, such taunts and jokes can be quite damaging and life changing, so to say it's not the same as gay or racist taunts, is quite wrong.

It would of course be just wrong to fine the Leeds club for the insults aimed at Graham, as was the fine imposed on the Castleford club for the insults aimed at the Welsh guy, but if the RFL are to be consistent then each and every RL club could be fined every week for such things.
The RFL have opened up a can of worms here and should "come out" and support the Castleford club for their inclusive policy and admit they were wrong to fine them, as the club did do all in their powers to stop the chants in question.

I have to say I've heard much worse chanted over my years of watching the game and whilst I dislike such chants, at least the Castleford club have and are still making every effort to stop such incidents, not sure if the same can be said of every other club, as we all witnessed watching last night's game on Sky.

Good thread this.

The thing with saying 'MORE' offensive is it's opening a sliding scale of what can and can't be said.

Why is it more dangerous ? The problem is victimisation no matter who it is, The point of this thread is that there will be nothing said to Leeds or a fine imposed to Leeds, you know that and i know that (and so they shouldnt), But once you set a precident than it must be done fairly and across the board, Cas fans aren't intent on Leeds getting fined or any other club for that matter, the point is Cas have been fined 40k which is ridiculous and if it was Leeds or any other club i would say the same.

Castleford cannot stop people chanting as much as Leeds or anyone else can, whether we like it or not (look at football when a certain spice girl was supposed to have taken something in a different orafice) what could be done about it.. Nothing, What was done about it Nothing. The differance is that Football have millions upon millions to take the FA to court, Rugby teams dont and it can break them.

But the chanting that Leeds did was clearly audible and could / has upset some people with ginger hair or maybe someone who's father has done a runner. Do they get any come back, obviously not in your eyes, "its banter thats all",

Dont you think maybe it was banter at Cas, did anyone turn up with anti gay slogans at the match ? did anyone stand outside waiting for him to come out of the changing rooms to shout abuse at him ? No (maybe they were frightened to) but maybe just maybe it is the same banter, but some people today can't accept that and want blood, well fine, It must be across the board for everyone, but there is more consistancy in our lasses pudding mix than the RFL have in them,

The bandwagon is rolling and quite a few are jumping on board but the danger is not the homophobic chants, the danger is that the RFL are becoming a dictitoral body, who have the power to cost clubs dearly, how can they justify 40k, who dreamed this figure up, rllook at thisrl this was systematic abuse by his own mother, 250 quid not 40,000, there was proof who did it, There isnt a hope in hell of finding who chanted at Cas no more than people being identified at Leeds for chanting at Graham or the Ref.

I believe Cas have to go through the appeal process (which will fail, i know it, and so does every one else) but then must take it further to the courts

Dear Sir/madam

After watching last nights fantastic game between St Helens V Leeds I would like express my concern about some of the chanting directed by fans of the Leeds Rhinos towards James Graham and the match official.

On 2 occasions during the first half you could clearly hear the Rhinos fans directing a song at James Graham calling him a " fat ginger bstard ".

In the 2nd half you could clearly hear the Rhinos fans directing another abusive chant at Richard Silverwood in which they reffered to him as a "wnker".

I am sure you can apprieciate that watching the game with my 2 year old son I was not happy to hear such language on my tv so long before the 9pm water shed.

Now the with the example made of the Castleford Tigers club this week I can only presume that simular action will be taken against the Leeds club for each of these incidents. Or do the effected people have to start a media campaign against the Rhinos for the RFL to take action.

What I would like to know is the following.

Do the RFL see the abuse of James Graham and Richard Silverwood as less serious as the abuse of Gareth Thomas at Castleford?

Was the respect cd played by the Leeds Rhinos staff after the abuse as this was not heard on the TV?

Just to let you know I am ginger and did find the chanting extremley offensive and as previously mentioned I was watching with my 2 year old son so the language used was not acceptable.

I hope you will take the fact that I am offended seriously and not disregard it. But I do suspect the fact I dont have a platform through the national media that you will not be interested wether I am offended or not.

I look foward to your prompt reply.

Kind regards

Your right speedy, i work in a school.
There's a young lad in year 9 who as gone through school being a lovely red/ginger hair colour.

Last week i didn't recognise him, he'd dyed is hair black, now i wonder why he did that hey.

Just a note. When it's your own mates doing it that is one thing. A bunch of halfwitted Leeds fans doing it is entirely different. They should all be carted off for lobotomies.

Oh, is it time to bring up the fact that Gareth Thomas seems to want his team mates to take the mick out of him for being gay?

How about this quote?

IIRC the idiots did not sing about the official masturbating. They said that he didn't know what he was doing.

Would anyone be able to tell the differance?

Fancy a bum?

I am neither fat or ginger, but I am a w***er. But I was very offended as I am a propper b@st@rd!

Well, she could have said "Not tonight David, me ring is sore."

Would those defending these 'ginger' chants mind awfully if I called you all a bunch of f**king hypocrites?

It's not as bad as gay-hating.